MANCHESTER, NH – In what may feel like a solitary game of musical chair, Alderman-At-Large Joe Levasseur cannot take his chair back after previously vacating it.
Mayor Jay Ruais on Monday sent out a note to the full board of Aldermen advising them that in response “to inquiries I have received from Members of this Board,” and after conferring with both the City Clerk and City Solicitor, that the board should be prepared to vote for a new chairman
“On Wednesday September 17th, the Chairman of the Board of Aldermen vacated his position as Chairman. The Board will reconvene on October 7th for our next meeting, at which time, you will vote to fill this role,” wrote Ruais.
For those who need a recap on the status of Levassuer’s board chairmanship over the past 12 days:
- A special meeting was scheduled for Sept. 10 during which the board was to meet in a non-public session to discuss Levasseur’s online comments made in reference to Health Department Director Anna Thomas. That was to be followed by a public meeting during which it was expected that the board would discuss a motion to remove him as chair. However that meeting was cancelled due to the death of conservative national political influencer Charlie Kirk.
- The meeting was rescheduled for Sept. 17, but was cancelled again about an hour before it was due to start – this time after Levassseur issued a press release saying he had apologized to Thomas for “hurting her feelings” and also announced his resignation as board chair.
- On Sept. 20 Levasseur issued another statement, this time saying he was “unstepping down” and reclaiming the chairmanship until the scheduled Oct. 7 meeting.
Ward 3 Alderman Pat Long on Monday said there are no take-backs for Levassseur.
“As far as I’m concerned Levasseur resigned. And ‘unstepping’? What is he, changing his shoes? I don’t even know what that word means,” Long said Monday. “The meetings that were cancelled really weren’t about him – he’s not that important. It was about how we as a city should be treating our employees.”
To that end, Long issued a press release Monday following the mayor’s memo on behalf of “a majority of aldermen,” who have come together to say they will not tolerate any behavior that is less than supportive of city workers.
“It is at least eight aldermen – that’s a majority – but it could be ten,” Long said, when asked which aldermen had signed off on the statement, which reads:
“The Board of Aldermen will not tolerate personal attacks, threats, or innuendos against its employees. The residents of Manchester can rest assured that the city provides a safe and comfortable work environment for all, and further that this Board has the complete faith and trust in all our outstanding employees which includes our very capable Department Heads and teams.
It is important to us as a Board that all city employees know that we support them.
It is unacceptable to denigrate and demean their efforts, and we will not tolerate the recent attack on our Department Head and their employees.
We will continue working with our employees to elevate the quality-of-life Manchester deserves.”
In his September 20 statement, Levasseur said his reason for rescinding his resignation was that he had “learned a lot more about the lies they made up to hold a secret meeting, it wasn’t about an employee it was all about me and what can or cannot be said on social media. Since it’s about me, then I demand it be in public. ”
He maintained that he was also stepping aside so as not to hurt other Republicans on the ticket.
Long said he’s had it with Levasseur’s sense of self-importance.
“We were always planning to discuss in public the reasons why we felt he should go as chairman, for the kind of things he’s been doing for all these years. It’s enough,” Long said. “And secret meetings? I don’t know what he’s talking about. The only thing we would ever discuss in non-public is anything that would disparage a city employee.”
Ruais’ memo to the board included an addition to the Oct. 7 agenda based on requests by several aldermen:
- Motion that neither the Board of Mayor and Aldermen nor the City of Manchester, will tolerate personal attacks, threats, or innuendos against its employees or other officials and that the residents of Manchester can rest assured that the City provides a safe and comfortable work environment for all; and further that this board has the complete faith and trust in Director Thomas and the outstanding employees of our Department of Health as they work every day to improve the health of individuals and families across our community.
- Motion to direct the Solicitor and City Clerk to draft language to be added to our rules of decorum (Rule 8) incorporating the spirit of the City’s Anti-Harassment and Workplace Violence policies found within our current Employee Handbook, and return to the [aldermanic] Committee on Administration for consideration as soon as possible.